| Add a taste of old-world Italy to your home with | | | | usually unpolished or beaten copper, iron, tin and |
| selected pieces of furniture or accessories. Enhance | | | | pewter. Tiled floors are a must. |
| your home with pieces of Renaissance or Tuscan | | | | The Tuscan style is all about projecting a relaxed, |
| style, or even contemporary designs. Furniture should | | | | lived-in style. Throw-pillows and blankets are |
| not only be functional, it should also be a work of art | | | | everywhere, tapestries and murals might cover the |
| and you find that in the Italian styles. | | | | walls. Bowls of brightly-colored fruit - whether real or |
| The end of the Dark Ages in Europe began in | | | | ceramic, decorate the large kitchen tapes. Herbs hang |
| Tuscany towards the end of the 14th century. It | | | | from the ceiling and cupboard display linens or dishes. |
| was a time of rebirth in culture, in a search for | | | | Furniture and home design did not stop in the 15th |
| knowledge and in scientific advancement, and the | | | | century, of course, nor even in the 18th. Today |
| growth of the craft guilds for furniture makers. | | | | Italian craftsmen continue to design and build unique |
| Renaissance furniture is large, heavy and ornate, with | | | | furniture and other decor for the home. |
| intricate carvings of everything from fruit and | | | | Thanks to the internet it's possible to visit all kinds of |
| vegetables to birds, from animal grotesqueries to | | | | manufacturers or vendors of contemporary Italian |
| human figures. Renaissance pieces are big, big, big, | | | | furniture to see the unique European look they bring. |
| however, and so will dwarf anything a small room. | | | | 1Contemporary offers furniture from Canada as well |
| Although the Renaissance actually began in Tuscany, | | | | as Italy and the United States. |
| it of course spread throughout the rest of Italy. | | | | Cassina claims to be the premier Italian furniture |
| Tuscan furniture took a different path, with a simple, | | | | maker, and is the only manufacturer of authentic Le |
| rustic yet nevertheless opulent looking design that | | | | Corbusier furniture. Their site is a masterpiece of |
| came into use in the rural areas of the country. The | | | | elegance, like their furniture. Le Corbusier, by the |
| furniture is sturdy but not ornate, and it is the | | | | way, is the name by which the Swiss-born architect |
| accessory pieces such as wrought-iron tables and | | | | Charles-Edouard Jeanneret is known. He was one of |
| ceramic and earthenware jugs that give it the | | | | the founders of modernism, and in addition to |
| distinctive look. | | | | buildings he also designed furniture, which has quite a |
| Everyone who talks about the Tuscan style | | | | distinctive look. |
| comments on the colors - deep, rich red, golden | | | | Momentoitalia is another elegant site which shows off |
| yellows, and cool Mediterranean blues are friendly | | | | the slim and elegant lines of contemporary Italian |
| colors, warm colors. give a feeling of warmth and | | | | furniture. |
| friendliness to the decor. Kitchenware utensils are | | | | |